


Battlegrounds

by crossingwinter



Series: Somewhat canonical [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Friendship, Humor, Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-01
Updated: 2009-05-01
Packaged: 2017-11-11 04:17:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/474424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crossingwinter/pseuds/crossingwinter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes the best way to handle a hard time in your life is to get drunk with friends and play with fire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Battlegrounds

**Battlegrounds**

"You know something, James," said Alice, "I think, if you tried, you could  _possibly_ be a little more juvenile. You would have to try very hard, admittedly, but I am pretty damn sure you have it in you."

"Alice, I'm a taken man, so stop your flirting," grinned James.

"There are so many better ways to spend New Year's Eve, you know. But I mean, seriously? A  _snowball fight?_ "

"A  _drunken_  snowball fight," corrected Sirius, tossing her a flask.

"What's in this?" asked Alice.

"Depends on your flask, dunnit? Let's wait for Lillins, then, I will explain to you ladies the rules of the Annual Marauders New Years Eve Snow Ball Bash Bonanza Thingy."

"It was the 'thingy' at the end that gave that sentence punch, Sirius," commented Remus, carrying over a large pile of candy.

"Oy! Lily! Get your arse over here!" shouted Peter.

"Very polite, Peter. You do realize she's talking to my mum, right?" asked James.

"Your mum knows I don't have the cleanest of vocabulary."

"True," admitted James, "but there are ladies present."

"Oh shut up, you wankers," snapped Alice.

Alice was in a bad mood. Alice was supposed to be spending New Years curled up in the arms of her beloved, Frank Longbottom, but he was off doing something for Dumbledore and none of us knew exactly what that entailed.

Not that Alice or I (or Lily for that matter) knew exactly what it was like to be with the boys on New Years. As far as we knew, every New Years since they started Hogwarts, they have gathered and celebrated together. We the female members of Gryffindor tower used to joke that they were probably off worshipping Satan together. But we never really knew what went on here. This was the first year that we were included, and we didn't know exactly what was proper. 

We were there because Lily was there, and we didn't know what was proper when being around her either. Her mother died of cancer a week before. At first, we all thought that Lily would want to be with her family. She was for a little while, but then her sister and future-brother-in-law drove her out (much to her father's chagrin) and so she was here with her boyfriend.

She seemed to be doing all right, though. Or at least, as well as could be expected.

"Sorry, everyone," she said breathily as she ran through the snow towards us.

"Don't worry about it, Lil—" James began.

"Merlin, Lily. Way to keep us waiting," growled Sirius.

She laughed.

"Sorry, sorry," she repeated. She went to stand next to James, who took her hand in his.

"Right-o. Now. The Rules of the game," said Sirius pompously, "are as follows. Four teams—so I guess someone is going to have to be on their own—build a snow fort each. Everyone has ten minutes to do so. Then the fun begins. An old-fashioned snowball fight with a twist: every time you get hit, you have to take a sip of your flask. The first group to finish their flask loses and so forth, but they can continue to pelt snow if they feel so inclined. The last group to finish gets a sock full of money (which I have in my room)—"

"Is it one of your socks? Because I don't want to touch anything that has been on your smelly foot," Alice interrupted.

"It is rude to interrupt, Alice. And no, it is not my sock. I am simply in possession of it."

"Then what's the candy for?" asked Lily.

"Ah. I was getting to that—"

"You are taking far too long, Sirius. Hurry up," grumbled Remus, who was shivering.

"Remus, how on earth are you cold?" demanded Sirius. "You are a creature of the—"

"Sirius, be nice," said James, sternly.

"I was going to say of the north. And it isn't even that cold out,"

"Get on with it, Sirius," snapped Remus.

"The candy," continued Sirius loudly, "is for those who have partners with them in their snow fort. If you are feeling daring, you sneak out, and try to get a piece of candy from the middle. If you are hit, though, you forfeit your candy to the person who hit you. The group with the most candy at the end gets bragging rights."

"What, no sock full of money?" teased Lily.

"Your mocking is not appreciated, Lillinsky," Lily rolled her eyes. We were never entirely sure why Sirius called Lily  _Lillins_  or  _Lillinsky._  He gave nicknames to everyone (and everything), but usually they were things like…well…  _Prongs_  or  _Wormtail_. They were rarely related to the name of the person being nicknamed. Except for  _Lillins_ or  _Lillinsky_. Lily used to go ballistic when he called her that. She has grown out of her tantrums though… "Now," continued Sirius, "in this hat, there are seven differently colored balls."

James snorted.

"Maturity, James," scolded Alice.

"Alice, you have already challenged me to be the most juvenile I can be. So it is your own fault that I find the word  _balls_  amusing on this night."

"Thanks, Alice," said Peter, "Now he won't stop."

"How on earth is this my fault?" demanded Alice.

"Because I said so," said James, sticking out his tongue. 

"Ladies!" commanded Sirius, trying to stop the squabble.

"I am not a lady, Padfoot," said James.

"If you keep acting that way, you will be."

"Looks like Sirius is trying to justify being your midnight smooch, James," smiled Lily.

James ignored her and said, "Well, at least I am not like you and Moony, who are both bitches."

Peter, Sirius and Remus all laughed.

I really don't understand boys.

"In any event," chortled Sirius, "I have seven multicolored objects in this hat. So each of you, grab one."

"Sirius, at least let me have fun with this. You should have said 'everyone grab a ball.' Some best friend you are," pouted James, reaching into the hat and drawing out a blue ball.

"Haha. I have a blue ball."

"This is going to be unbearable," muttered Lily, reaching into the hat and drawing out a green one.

By the end of it, James was by himself ("no one loves me!"), Lily was paired with me, Alice and Remus were together and Sirius and Peter were a pair.

"All right, you have ten minutes! Now start!" called Sirius.

Lily and I began.

"Can you please find a way to coerce your boyfriend into stopping being immature to the extreme tonight?" I asked as I began digging in the snow. 

"I am actually rather amused by it. I just need a stupid laugh. And he'll get bored with it soon enough. Listen, you work on the fort, I'll start the snowballs so we have a stash when we get started. I am determined to win a sock full of money."

"How are things with James?" I asked.

"You know. The way they appear, actually, which is refreshing. I mean, he doesn't stop being James. He just sometimes gives toerag James a sedative and is nice, normal, respectable James."

"Sometimes?"

"Weren't you just complaining about his desire to out-immature himself?"

"Boy needs attention."

"Only children, eh? Peter's not bad because he has a sister, and Remus is…well, I dunno how Remus escaped it."

"I think having a friend like James would do it."

She laughed.

Her laugh was a bit strained. For a moment, I wondered what it must be like to be Lily Evans.

I don't think I could have handled it anywhere near as deftly as she.

Lily began humming. She has always hummed in moments of silence. It used to get on all of our nerves. But now, we know it's just Lily.

I don't know what she is humming, but it sounds like Mozart.

"Hey. They are using magic to make their fort!" I exclaimed, looking over at Peter and Sirius' fort.

It looked like a mini-Hogwarts.

"Well I want my stupid sock of money, so you'd better get on that, Mary Macdonald."

"What time is it?" I called to Sirius, casting a charm to reshape our fort.

"About eleven o'clock. Two minutes left, folks!" he called back.

"I'm done, you know, and I am all alone and unloved and sad and pitiful and—"

"Oh, cork it, Prongs."

"You know you are not alone, James," called Remus, "You would be if you were playing this snow war game all by yourself. Then you would be alone and unloved and sad and pitiful and whatnot."

"And I wouldn't call you unloved, James," added Lily, her voice overly-sultry, "unless all my kisses and caresses mean nothing to you."

Sirius wolf-whistled.

"Oh, shut up, Sirius," snapped Alice.

"You know, Lily, I am feeling a bit unloved right now. Why don't you come over and remedy it," called James.

"Yeahno. I have a sock full of money to win."

"I could just give you a sock full of money," said James, hopefully.

"But that would make me a woman of poor repute, and then your mother would stop liking me."

"True. But I wouldn't mind that."

"Thanks, James. So glad to know what's important to you," laughed Lily.

"Siiirrriussss," whined James, "are there Honey Dukes in the candy pile?"

"No. They are bloody gross and I don't know how you like them."

"You are the worst best friend a man could ever want. I am denouncing you as my best friend. From now on, Mary is my best friend."

"Sure, James, sure," I called.

"You don't want to be my best friend?"

"Not while you are being an immature fool I don't."

"Your words wound me."

"They are only words, James."

"Sticks and stones break bones but words hurt forever, or something like that."

"James, love, the saying is 'sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never harm me,'" Lily stage-whispered.

"Oh. Well. Fine. Be that way. All of you gang up on James. I understand."

"Hmmm…That sounds like a battle strategy. Who's on board?" asked Alice.

"All right, ladies and gents. Five seconds. Four. Three. Two. One. FIRE!" Sirius hollered.

I have never been the biggest fan of snow fights. I don't like it particularly when you get snow down the back of your neck and it stays there, cold and wet, until it melts, and is just plain wet. It is unpleasant.

But my fort was quite good, and Lily had a stellar aim. Not as good as James, mind, but quite good. And James is the bloody head chaser on the bloody Gryffindor quidditch team, so it is hardly surprising that his aim is good.

Alice and Remus lost first. I don't know what was in their respective flasks, but Alice was unable to throw straight after five sips. Remus lasted a little longer than she did, but by the time they were done, they were both giggling and singing and making crude jokes, which was rather surprising coming from the two most straight-laced of us.

James was out next, although he was nowhere near as drunk as the other two. I heard him griping about getting cider in his flask—which was not remotely alcoholic enough for him.

Lily wasn't hit once. I was hit a few times. Sirius dodged all attacks quite neatly, and I don't know how on earth Peter managed to get as much candy as he has without magic, but he kept calling things like, "I've got fourteen chocolate frogs now," and such.

"You are a cheater, Wormtail," shouted James. He fired a snowball at the empty ground and hit a rat.

"James, don't pick on the animals," Lily scolded.

"I'm not. This is a very strong rat. It takes more than a single snowball to hurt him."

"How on earth do you know?" she demanded, "Is your house infested or something?"

"Nah. I just know this rat. Stop cheating, Wormtail."

I suspect that it is because of James that we won. Even slightly tipsy, he still managed to pelt Sirius and Peter to bits with snowballs.

Sirius called James a bunch of foul things, and claimed that he was pussy-whipped. James ignored him and told him that he won the bloody candy round and so he should just go and ingest the sugar already.

Sirius did so.

"Children!" we hear a faint call from the house.

Helen Potter was undoubtedly once quite tall, but she had osteoporosis and was now stooped and shorter than her son.

"Yes Mrs. Potter?" shouted Remus.

"It's nearly midnight. Do you want to set off some fireworks?"

We traipse, wet, tipsy (or drunk, in Remus' and Alice's case), back up to the house.

"I want to set one off!" said Remus.

"I'm sorry, Remus, but fireworks and alcohol don't mix well. I don't want you catching yourself on fire, even if I am a trained healer who is perfectly capable of putting out the fire and healing your burns before they fester. It would traumatize poor Jimmy and we can't have that," Mrs. Potter said.

James rolled his eyes, but said nothing. None of us had ever heard James being called  _Jimmy_  until we came here. It is apparently a nickname reserved only for his mother, because even Sirius doesn't call him Jimmy—although that might be because, as previously stated, Sirius doesn't nickname most people according to their  _real_  names.

"Now. Lily, would you like to set off the first one?" She handed Lily a large green rocket. She handed one next to James, then to Peter, then to me, and Sirius last. We go off into the yard again.

"Mum, do you have the sparklers for our annual duel?" called James.

"Yes. I got them especially long so that they will last long enough. Don't you lose this time Jimmy. You have the family honor to redeem," called Mrs. Potter.

"What's this?" asked Lily.

"You'll see," responded James, quietly.

"I would say it's midnight now, so you can probably set those off," called Mrs. Potter from the front steps.

Five fireworks shot off into the sky and exploded into a thousand tiny stars. Lily leaned over and kissed James. I turned away, to give them privacy. When I looked back, James had his arm around her shoulder. Both of them were looking up into the sky above them, their faces illuminated by the dancing sparks.

Mrs. Potter, from the porch, waved her wand and, with many loud bangs, more fireworks shot into the sky, creating a light show that continued on for several minutes.

"I think you outdid London this year, mum," called James.

"Yes. I rather think so. Well, boys, come get your sparklers, lord knows it's time that you all began playing with fire in a more hands-on sort of way. I mean, it is only three minutes into the New Year." James, Sirius, and Peter raced back through the snow to Mrs. Potter, who held them metal sticks out to them.

"I remind you," she said, "that if one of you catches fire, I will have to punish you."

"Mum, we haven't caught fire doing this in years," grinned James.

"Yeah, Mrs. Potter, we'll be fine. We've definitely done this more drunk than we are," agreed Sirius, "Come on Moony, grab a sparkler."

The boys moved back towards us. They huddled close together for a moment, then their sparklers were alight, and the four of them broke into a duel.

"Come on, you fiend. Fight back! Or I will have your stash of dungbombs and there will be nothing you can do about it!" shouted Peter as he crossed sparklers with James.

James responded quickly, "Haha! You rat! As if I could ever lose with dungbombs on the line! But you, you shall forfeit your collection of magazines—and not the quidditch ones!" (Lily rolled her eyes at me.)

Sirius was shouting insults that sounded like "Prepare to meet your maker, you mangy, flea-ridden cur!" to which Remus could only respond by howling, "Who are you calling a cur, you dog?"

It was utterly ridiculous to watch.

"The great, overgrown children," murmured Lily, falling onto her back into the snow. She began making a snow angel, looking up at the fireworks, which were still shooting up in the distant town.

"It's nice to see that some things won't change, even in 1978," I said, sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"'S kinda funny, though," slurred Alice, flumping down as well, "I miss Frank."

"You're allowed," replied Lily, quietly.

We didn't notice when their duel ended, just when they came and sat down with us. Lily snuggled into James' side. He hugged her back.

"Well," said Remus, whose wool hat was now singed, "Happy New Year, everyone."

We all responded in kind, still watching the fireworks.

"I hope we can do this again next year," said Lily, "All of us together again, no matter what life after Hogwarts throws at us. Drunken snowfights, sparkler duels, James trying to be the most immature wanker I have ever met in my life. I hope it's just like this."

I could tell from the slight pause before the murmurs of agreement that Lily was not the only one who had been hoping just that—she had just been the only one to voice it.

 


End file.
